Friday, November 01, 2013

Book Report: KINGS MOUNTAIN by Sharyn McCrumb

The Battle of King's Mountain was October 7, 1780.

KING'S MOUNTAIN by
Sharyn McCrumb. I knew this book was
coming out and was eager to read it. It
is about the the Battle of King's Mountain in the Revolutionary War. The reason I wanted to read it because my
ancestor William Trammell and some of
his brothers fought in that battle. One of William's arm was sliced off during the
combat, but he lived into his 80s. The
battle itself lasted about one hour but of course it had a lot of events which
were explained before and the many events afterwards.

Interesting Kings Mountain is on the border of North
Carolina and South Carolina, and it is not much of a mountain at all. The book explains that it wasn't named in
honor of a King as some thought, but after a man with the surname King who once owned
much of the property.

The leading officers on both sides in the book were actually
people that were actually there that fateful day, which was the turning point
in the war. Sharyn McCrumb gave the
leaders conversations between themselves, which I have mixed feelings about. It is giving some credit for saying some very
profound statements , which they may or may not have really said. But if they didn't say what they are credited
for they should have, I suppose.

The book shows examples of the cruelties of war on both
sides. The British, the Tories, and the
Patriots. Indians, and whoever else.
They were mostly* hanging happy. Hang your enemies and make good examples of
them. The good guys were just as bad, up
to a point. In many cases it was neighbor against neighbor, even friend or relative against the same with deathly results.

Another thing McCrumb brought up I had never thought of but
it makes sense, even as cold hearted as it is:
Before going into battle only the well-bodied men went. It you were sick or weak you stayed behind
without much weapon power, the ones
going into battle would need those. That
would leave a bunch of weak weaponless
men fend for themselves, in case the enemy Army came marching by and saw them. It would have been a slaughter, but that didn't happen.

Sharyn did some very detailed research to explains some behind the scenes that you
will not find in the history books. It
was a good read and I feel I gained some knowledge reading it.

*except the Indians, they were not mentioned much but they had killing methods, other than hanging.